Now is a good time to invest in stock market: Analysts

MUMBAI: With the European crisis adding to the woes of the domestic market pulling down nearly 200 blue-chips scrips to yearly-lows, some market analysts feel that this is the right time to invest in these stocks with a long-term view.

The prices of several market favourites have come down following the uncertainty over the ongoing European crisis, they said, adding nearly 200 stocks from various sectors such as telecom, realty and infrastructure among others are trading below their 52-week lows.

For instance, the counters like Bharti Airtel and Idea from the telecom space are at their yearly lows, primarily due to the fierce competition and the resultant dip in their revenues, the woes of realty leader DLF and infra majors like GMR Infra and Punj Lloyd are primarily because of the lingering market volatility.

From January until now, the broader market index Sensex gave a negative return of about 3 per cent to settle at 17,064.95 points on June 12. And many analysts are of the view that this is the best time for long-term investors to invest.

"This is a good time to invest in sectors like infrastructure and telecom with a perspective of two-three years. Most of the stocks in these sectors are high beta scrips that follow the market trend, which is negative right now. But they are definitely a good bet for the long-term investor as whenever the market goes up, they will give good returns," SMC Global Securities vice-president and research head Rajesh Jain said.

"These sectors definitely need attention as there are very good opportunities in these companies with strong fundamentals and great business models, especially sectors like telecom and infrastructure look very attractive," CNI Research chairman and managing director Kishore P Otswal said.

But analysts also feel that to get a fair amount of return, investments should be made with a long-term horizon. "An investor needs to be really sector-specific while putting the money in the market. The telecom and sugar sectors look very attractive at these levels in the long-term, that is, at least a two-year horizon," Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services assistant vice-president Gaurang Shah said.

It has also been suggested that investors pick up metal stocks which are expected to bounce back in view of Chinese exports surging by 48.5 per cent in May, against the year-ago period.